Ex-Legislator Hired as No. 2 at Louisiana Insurance Department

A former state lawmaker has landed a $150,000 a year job as the No. 2 official at the state Department of Insurance.

Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon tells The Advocate that former state Rep. Noble Ellington — a veteran legislator who did not seek re-election last fall — joined his staff as chief deputy last week.

“We are really pleased to have him. It’s an asset, a public face in addition to mine,” Donelon said. Ellington would become interim commissioner if anything happened to Donelon.

Ellington is a Republican from Winnsboro, who has been a member of both the Louisiana House and Senate. The 69-year-old cotton merchant had been a legislator since 1988.

Donelon said Ellington served on the Louisiana House Insurance Committee for the past four years “but that is the extent of his insurance involvement to my knowledge.”

Ellington is the latest former legislator to be appointed to a paid state position since fall elections in which they either did not run or were defeated.

Gov. Bobby Jindal appointed former state Rep. Jane Smith, R-Bossier City, as deputy secretary of the state Department of Revenue — a $107,500 a year job. The governor also appointed former state Reps. Mert Smiley, R-St. Amant, and Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette, to the state Pardon Board, where they join ex-state Rep. Tank Powell, R-Ponchatoula, whom Jindal reappointed.

Smith lost a bid for the state Senate.

Hardy was defeated for re-election. Smiley won an assessor’s race but he doesn’t take office until January.

Topics Louisiana